I am 5ft 6 and a half inches. Aibu to ask, what do you think I should weigh?

[ferriswheel]

Am very fat and need perspective and motivation.

tia

[notsurehowtodothis]

I am your height and at my lightest, when I was a student and barely ate, and exercised daily, I was 9st. I was still 'bigger' than a lot of my friends though but had a dangerously low level of body fat (identified via body stat) just by my body shape is simply never going to be a 'slender' frame (think Kirsty Allsop shape!). It has taken me about twenty years to accept that. I am now about twelve stone and still trying to shift weight after DCs (youngest now 1) which is definitely too heavy and I would like to lose at least a stone and a half. Exercise is what works best for me and I have simply let it slide since the kids came along. My 'healthy' weight is 10.5 stone and that takes work to maintain, and I still feel enormous when alongside lots of my friends, but that's just the way the cards were dealt :)

[Keepingupwiththejonesys]

I'm 37+4 weeks pregnant so obviously weighing more and a different shape right now. When I was 12st I didn't look fat at all, curvy yes, fat nope. Was wearing a size 14 but sometimes they where a little big, I have huge boobs and an hourglass shape (that sounds better than it actually is) my goal weight is 10st10lb and I think I look nice at that weight and am comfortable in a size 12. Ideally I should be under 11st2lb as anything more makes me in the overweight category

[likewhatevs]

I am 5ft 6". (Actually 5ft 5 1/2" ) I weigh 15st. Obviously I am obese. I'm a size 18-20. More like a 20.
When I was 11st (on my wedding day, 12 years ago) I thought I was fat (I was wearing a size 14 dress) but I couldn't be arsed to diet so I squeezed into that dress and loved it.
When I was 12 and a half stone I was disgusted by how fat I was. I was a size 16 then. Overweight. I did something about it and got back down to 11st. With a VLCD. I promptly put all the weight back on, and more.
When I was 13 and a half stone I thought fuck it lifes too short and did some plus size modelling. I wasn't as gross as I thought. I actually still looked pretty good for an obese person. I was a size 16-18.
However now I feel disgusting and can't quite believe I thought I was fat at 11st. My goal weight is 10st 4lb which is what I was at uni (I thought I was fat then as well)
I have no requirement to be a size 8. A size 12-14 was always a perfectly suitable size for me. I just never knew it.

[ZouBisou]

I'm exactly the same height as you.

The least I've ever weighed was 59kg, after a good few months of a controlled diet and exercise regime (calorie counting, about 1450 per day or something like that).

The most I've ever weighed was 69kg after a prolonged period of no exercise and too much cheese and general indulgence.

Generally with moderate exercise and trying to be reasonable with what I eat, I'm between 63 and 65kg.

[ZouBisou]

Also worth pointing out I'm in my 30s and have never given birth, that probably affects things. Generally wear size 10-12. Have never been able to get into a size 8 even at my lightest.

[OohNoDooEy]

I'm your height - 10st is great, 11st is still fine - I'm a 12 at that weight and a 10 at 10.

[amusedbush]

I'm 5' 5 and 13st 11, size 14/16. My goal weight is 10st 7 but I'll be reassessing when I get there and I'll lose more if I feel I need to.

Three months ago I was 16st 7 so anything feels better than I did then

[MMM110]

Anything less than 11 stone is fine. Be realistic though. Don't set unrealistic expectations.

You don't need to join a slimming club.

3 things will help you lose weight slowly but surely.

Walking (10,000 steps a day)
Cutting our alcohol except on one day.
Drastically reducing sugar.

I lost 3.5 stone doing this in 12 months without cutting any food out. Just eating less of it and burning more off combined with virtually no empty calories.

[frumpet]

I think the most important thing to do is work out how hard you are willing to work at maintaining the weight you want to achieve once you get there . This is where I think myself and many others go wrong , it is all about getting there and achieving a goal , the magic number on the scales , with hardly a thought to how we are going to stay at that point once we have reached it .
Now I could lose weight and exercise and get to 9 stone , it would be hard going but not absolutely unachievable . But once I was at that weight I would need to be committed to a daily diet and exercise regime that in all honesty I would struggle to maintain for years . At 11 stone I would just need to be a bit more careful and cut back if I had a few high calorie days , just generally a bit more aware . I am more inclined to go for 11 stone because I know what level of commitment I am most likely to be able to maintain happily throughout a year .

[amusedbush]

frumpet

Exactly this. My original goal was 9st and I'm sure I'd look cracking at that weight but I'm a real foodie and I don't want to spend the rest of my life struggling to maintain there. I just want to feel healthier, look better and be more aware of my health and eating.

It really comes down to the fact that I just don't care about being as slim as I possibly can. That's not important to me.

[ZouBisou]

I totally agree frumpet. I got down to 9 stoneish and it felt great, hadn't been too hideous getting there. But over time the novelty wore off and my love of food and reluctance to keep calculating calories all the time started to outweigh my desire to be 9 stone. I'm happier at 10 stone (or preferably just under) without 'dieting' and just trying to be reasonable.

We're all different, but My Fitness Pal did help me to learn more about what calories are in what foods, what reasonable portions are, and how much exercise you have to do to burn it all off. It's not sustainable or necessary forever, but doing it has informed my way of eating now even though I don't use it any more.

[Geraldthegiraffe]

Wow amused that's an amazing difference. I'm similar and would be so pleased with a weight loss like that. What are you doing?

[wilmawebb]

I am the same height as you and am 9st and size 10/12.

[amusedbush]

Thanks Gerald! I'm currently doing the Cambridge Diet (Step 2, I couldn't bear total food replacement!) but once I hit three stone lost, I'll be slowly upping my calories and getting back into exercise. It's a great plan for an initial boost but there's no way I could do it long term.

[PyongyangKipperbang]

I am happy hearing that there are others who have bones made of lead too! I was beginning to think that I was a freak for being so heavy. When I was 11 stone and a size 10 (currently a 16 and frankly I dont want to weigh myself....) I was led to believe that I was some sort of medical anomaly!

My doctor told me that my BMI was too high, I challenged her to find an inch of fat on me that I could lose and she conceded the point that BMI isnt an infallible method of assessing weight/health.

[iLoveCamelCase]

I am the same height as you, somewhere around 5ft6.5-5ft7. I currently weigh 9st12 and am a size 12. Would like to get down to 9st5 or 9st6. Would really struggle to maintain anything below that, I think, and would have to be careful at that weight anyway. I have been all sorts... at most weigher over 13st. Was 9st11 for years but put on 2st in 9 mnths during a course of fluoxetine. Lost a stone of that but really struggled to lose the final stone or so. Did it recently purely by calorie counting, using my Fitness Pal. Like someone else said, this app really helps you to get to know how many calories are in what and to control portion size. I like calorie counting because you can eat what you like - just have to count it! There really is no need for expensive, faddy diets - use my fitness pal or calculate your basal metabolic rate online and establish how many calories you can consume each day to lose weight at a rate that works for you. Invest in a pair of digital kitchen scales to weigh out portions when needed. I have really found this to be the cheapest and best way of losing weight. No subscription fees, no expensive ingredients - just normal eating, but moderated.

[StarryIllusion]

10st ish? I am 5 ft 8 and look and feel healthy at around 11st. (Fucking wish I weighed that now!)

[JaxingJump]

9.5-10 stone would be in and around size 10-12. And a very healthy BMI.

[InTheDessert]

Another "lead boned" 5ft6 here.
Currently 12 stone 7lb My (Next, I know they size large) size 14 trousers are dropping off my hips.
Would like to get down to 11st 7. Maybe 11, but it's hard to maintain that for me.
Ideally by June, so I can go back to the UK, buy a suitcase full of size 12s, and wear them for the next year.

Honestly, look at baby steps. What size are you in at the moment? Target dropping a dress size. Then see how you feel. The variation on this thread should show you weight doesn't mean everything.

[joystir59]

likewhatevs I am you

[FV45]

I thought 'big boned' was a myth. Sure, people have different skeletal frame sizes, but this shouldn't have much impact on being overweight or not.

[TaraCarter]

FV45, holy words-being-used-interchangeably, Batman! Big boned or heavy boned?

People have differently sized skeletons, deffo, and in some cases, it is difficult to tell on observation alone whether someone looks wide because they have a huge frame (wide shoulders, wide ribcage) with a normal covering of soft tissue on top, or if they have an averagely-sized frame with a lot of soft tissue on it. Or whether it's down to a combination of both, as in someone who has a somewhat large frame combined with a poor lifestyle.

So no, not a myth in my opinion. But in this thread, people are (humorously) speculating about bone density as a way to explain how someone can be visibly smaller and yet heavier on a scale than a counterpart.

[MiniMaxi]

We are the same height. I look and feel good between 10st and 10st 7 or thereabouts. Currently a stone heavier than that post pregnancy and still look ok but could be trimmer for sure and my jeans are too tight

[Angelika321]

Exactly 5ft 6 and a half here. I weigh 8 stone 4lb but am pear shaped. Tiny frame on my top half though. My ring size is H and bra size is 28. My trousers however are a size 10 and although my waist is tiny I have a pot belly!

[Bluntness100]

Skeletons don't actually weigh that much, yes there is differences some people have lighter thinner bones than others, but it's still not a major differentiator.

I'd guess the main difference is muscle mass. Someone who is twelve stone and a size ten at this height I would assume has more lean muscle and less fat than someone who ten stone and a size ten.

I tnink also frame has something to do with dress size. For example I'm very narrow even though I'm nearly five eight, my whole frame is narrow, from shoulders to hips, and when I was pregnant even though I had an emergancy c section, the consultant already said at 36 weeks they didn't think I could give birth naturally as my baby would get stuck on the way down, the bones were too close together for her head to pass, there was simply not enough space.

My daughter is the same, she is also very narrow and long. Howver I have a friend who is much much thinner than me, and the same height but she takes the same dress size, for the simple reason that her frame is simply wider, her shoulders, hips etc. But she is thinner and she looks thinner, it's simply I have a narrower frame.